June 1967

With his debut album rapidly ascending the British record charts, Jimi gives a series of revealing interviews in advance of the Experience’s much-anticipated final U.K. show at the Saville Theatre. During this performance, the band stuns Paul McCartney by opening with a cover of the Beatles’ just-released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. After a series of photoshoots, the Experience flies to New York City in advance of their performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival. Jimi revisits the New York City haunts he’d left behind just nine month earlier. Upon their arrival in Monterey, California, Jimi hand-paints the Stratocaster he’ll use to climax their set. The weekend-long Monterey festival presents a wide array of rock talent and climaxes with the sets by The Who and Jimi Hendrix. Jimi stuns the audience, most of whom have never heard of him, with his charismatic personality and unprecedented approach to performing. He ends the Experience’s set by burning his guitar amid a roaring cacophony of feedback. As Joel Selvin sagely noted, Jimi Hendrix “walked onstage a nobody and walked off a major star, ready to rewrite the language of the guitar.”

May 1967

On May 1, Reprise Records issues the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut single in the U.S. During a series of interviews, Jimi addresses the racism he experienced during the Walker Brothers tour and the egregious minstrel-derived images conservative British journalists apply to him. Jet magazine, America’s “Weekly Negro News Magazine,” begins covering Jimi’s success abroad. In studio sessions, the Experience record “She’s So Fine,” “Taking Care of Business,” “Look Over Yonder,” “If 6 Was 9,” and portions of “Burning of the Midnight Lamp.” At the Saville, the band plays a triumphant set to a star-studded audience. Mid-month, Track Records releases Are You Experienced, the most revolutionary album in rock history, to rave reviews. The band spends the second half of the month on a European tour that takes them to West Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Despite the chart-climbing record releases, intensive press coverage, and ever-expanding audiences, Jimi, Mitch, and Noel can barely survive on the small stipend they’re being paid, which leads them to a showdown with management at month’s end.

April 1967

During the month-long, much ballyhooed Walker Brothers U.K. tour, the Experience travel by bus and play theatres on a mismatched bill with the Quotations, the Californians, Cat Stevens, and Engelbert Humperdinck. Between shows, they shuttle back to London to record “Highway Chile,” “May This Be Love,” “Love or Confusion,” “Are You Experienced?,” and other enduring Hendrix originals. In the process, Jimi and engineers Eddie Kramer and Roger Mayer pioneer new sounds on record. By the time the band plays Liverpool, the Experience are greeted with pandemonium reminiscent of Beatlemania. In interviews, Jimi reveals that stagehands and theatre managers, declaring the band “obscene and vulgar,” are intentionally sabotaging their performances. Based on the band’s appearance, some hotels refuse to honour their reservations. Chas Chandler bucks tradition by rushing to release “The Wind Cries Mary” as “Purple Haze” is still climbing the charts.

Setting the Stage

This detailed account of James Marshall Hendrix’s life before he transformed into “Jimi” Hendrix covers his hardscrabble childhood in Seattle, his early musical inspirations, first instruments and bands, and stint in the U.S. Army. Following his discharge, Hendrix embarks on his professional career, playing the chitlin circuit and making his first recordings as a studio musician. He then lands in New York City, where he lives in abject poverty until his “discovery” by Linda Keith and Bryan “Chas” Chandler. Chandler sees him perform “Hey Joe” and Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” in a Greenwich Village club and arranges his passage to London. In a move that will come back to haunt him, Hendrix agrees to let Chandler and Michael Jeffery manage his career.

November 1966

On November 2, 1966, the Experience record Jimi’s newly composed “Stone Free” during a single session at De Lane Lea Studios. Chas Chandler arranges a record deal with Track Records and Jimi begins work on his ambitious “Third Stone from the Sun,” inspired by his love of science fiction. Chandler, Jimi’s father James “Al” Hendrix, and best friend Billy Cox describe his extraordinary all-day, every-day dedication to the guitar. Kathy Etchingham details their home life together and forays around London. During a tour of Germany, Jimi accidentally smashes a guitar and discovers “demolition feedback.” The Experience’s London afternoon showcase at the Bag O’Nails is attended by Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, members of the Beatles and Rolling Stones, and leading British music journalists, whose write-ups contribute to Jimi’s rapid ascent to fame. Meanwhile, his unprecedented guitarmanship and sexually-suggestive stage moves frighten The Who’s Pete Townshend and other leading British guitar icons.

March 1967

As the month begins, the Jimi Hendrix Experience begins to get press coverage in the U.S. and make unforgettable television appearances on Beat-Club and, during the first of two European tours this month, on the Belgian show Vibrato. In a series of interviews, Hendrix addresses his stressful childhood, love for blues music, and dislike of the “ordinary.” Sting recalls the Experience’s performance in Yorkshire as “the first time I’d ever seen a black man.” With the release of the “Purple Haze”/“51st Anniversary” single, the band embarks on tour of Germany, while Michael Jeffery secures them an American deal with Reprise Records. In studio sessions, the Experience record “Manic Depression” and other tracks. On the opening night of the Walker Brothers tour, Jimi Hendrix upstages the other acts by burning a guitar onstage for the first time, nearly setting the Finsbury Park Astoria ablaze. As the Walker Brothers tour progresses, Jimi’s onstage antics become front-page news.

October 1966

Jimi Hendrix rapidly establishes his presence in Britain’s burgeoning musical scene by “head-cutting” a stunned Eric Clapton during an onstage jam session with Cream. Drummer Mitch Mitchell agrees to join the Experience, and the trio begin rehearsals; this section includes details about the musician’s guitars, basses, strings, picks, effects devices, and Marshall amplification. Prior to embarking on the Experience’s first tour, Hendrix signs the first of several exploitive contracts with Michael Jeffery. During their tour of France, the musicians share hashish, Captagon, and other drugs and earn mixed – and sometimes racist -- reviews in French newspapers. After their triumphant appearance at the Paris Olympia, they return to London and record their first single, “Hey Joe.” In search of a song to put on the 45’s flip-side, Jimi begins songwriting in earnest.

February 1967

In interviews, Jimi credits Bob Dylan, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and other influences; discusses his band’s approach to performing; and disses the Monkees. As the Experience tours extensively in the U.K., the band receives widespread coverage in music magazines and local British newspapers, but mishaps and the relentless pace take their toll on Jimi, Mitch, and Noel. In studio sessions, the band completes “Fire,” “Foxey Lady,” “I Don’t Live Today,” and “Purple Haze.” With his Fender Stratocaster out of commission, Jimi records his iconic “Purple Haze” solos with a standard-strung, flipped-over, right-handed Fender Telecaster. A publishing agreement signed on February 16 confirms that Hendrix has composed more than a dozen of his most enduring songs during a six-week period. Writing for Melody Maker, Paul McCartney pens a rave review of the newly-released “Purple Haze” single by “the great Twinkle Teeth Hendrix!”

January 1967

Jimi’s onstage antics bring him widespread coverage and interview opportunities in Record Mirror, New Musical Express (NME), Disc and Music Echo, and other British music magazines. The band tours extensively outside of London and gains further exposure through their records being played by pirate radio stations and Radio Luxemburg. A row about Kathy Etchingham’s cooking inspires Jimi to compose “The Wind Cries Mary,” which the band records in a single session the following day. As the month progresses, the Experience record “Purple Haze,” “51st Anniversary,” “Fire.” A who’s-who of British rock musicians – the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, and Donovan among them – regularly attend the Experience’s London performances. Staid British publications begin refering to Jimi with the racist term “Wild Man of Borneo.” In a series of interviews, some fuelled by his consumption of LSD, Jimi discuss his life, songwriting techniques, fears, loves, and spiritual beliefs. At month’s end, the Experience are filmed at the Saville Theatre.

December 1966

Jimi deepens his entanglement with manager Michael Jeffery by signing another ill-advised contract, and moves with Chas Chandler and Kathy Etchingham into an apartment owned by Ringo Starr. He begins assembling a wide-ranging collection of albums, including many by favourite blues artists Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Elmore James. After a visit with his former bandleader, Little Richard, Hendrix is accosted by the London police due to his skin color and clothing choices. The Jimi Hendrix Experience make their television debut on Ready Steady Go!, and record “Foxey Lady,” “Can You See Me,” “Love or Confusion,” “Red House,” and other original Hendrix compositions. The band’s first single, “Hey Joe” backed with “Stone Free,” is released to rave reviews. Then, while waiting backstage to perform at a Boxing Day matinee, Jimi composes “Purple Haze,” drawing inspiration from a Philip José Farmer science fiction short story. He rings in the new year with Noel Redding’s family.